Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have a couple of comments, although some of the issues have been raised already. I previously raised the issue of abuses involving the draft register of electors in my constituency at the last local elections, particularly at the Leitrim end of the constituency. In particular, this concerns the number of people on the draft register who were actually out of the country but who were submitted for voting purposes. While this issue has not been mentioned, it is vital that the abuses taking place with the registers are addressed.

Mr. John O'Dowd referred to bank tellers doing the counting. I think we will keep the bankers out of elections, whatever else we might do. Over the years, as I have seen first-hand at many local and national elections, the work done by the county council staff in the various constituencies is excellent. They have worked extremely hard, they have the experience and the know-how and they have been working there for generations. These people, both male and female, have done an excellent job over the years. Why change something that has been very successful? In the past, we had rate collectors who would have known everybody, including people's ages and when they came to voting age. Unfortunately, we do not have a system like that at present.

Previous speakers said that nobody leaves their constituency offices without the Deputy or staff checking to see if they are on the register.